Town: No more events at LI Sports Park until site plan is approved

Long Island Sports Park in Calverton will not host any more events in 2017 until the site plan application it filed June 23 is approved, according to an agreement reached with Riverhead Town this month. The facility had come under fire from the Town Board for holding events such as the Long Island Potato Festival and Pour the Core Festival without proper approvals.

Riverhead town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz said he doesn’t foresee the town bringing any future litigation against Long Island Sports Park, located at the former Calverton Links golf course.

“The parties have had a number of meetings,” Mr. Kozakiewicz said. “There’s some, I think, difference of opinion from Long Island Sports Park’s viewpoint and ours.”

Mr. Kozakiewicz said the town’s believes that the property’s current use is different from what Calverton Links had been, which is why a site plan application is required.

Mr. Kozakiewicz said he expects the board to discuss the site plan within the next month.

“The subject premises is currently improved for use as a golf course and associated uses,” the town wrote in its decision.

It then explained that the agreement doesn’t extend to or affect any other pending applications Long Island Sports Park may have with the town.

Under the agreement, town representatives may enter the premises to make sure the company is in compliance with the agreement. The town did approve a special event that took place last weekend called Rugged Races. Future events, however, cannot be held until the site plan application is approved, according to the agreement.

Long Island Sports Park may still enter into agreements for special events for 2018 at its own risk, according to the document.

The decision comes nearly a year after the Riverhead Town Board claimed Long Island Sports Park was holding events without proper approvals. At the time, the town board said the property had submitted “a slew of special event applications” and should seek site plan approval to operate as a recreational facility instead of submitting special event applications for each event.

Last August the town said the managers were expanding beyond the special events the town typically allows, but still voted to approve the Long Island Potato and Pour the Core festivals.